Minoru Kato president and CEO of Honda India confirmed that the company is interested in mid-size motorcycle segment but they won’t launch products immediately
Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India is currently the second largest manufacturer in the country. The company is leading in scooter segment with Activa and also in 125 segments. But the Japanese manufacturer is not much active in sports bike segment. Even though Honda introduced CBR 250 R, CBR 650 R, Africa Twin, CBR 1000 RR and Gold Wing, the company is still lagging behind the competition.
During an interview with Autocar Pro, Minoru Kato, president and CEO of Honda India confirmed that the company is interested in mid-size motorcycle segment but they won’t launch products immediately as they are waiting for the right time.
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Currently the company is focusing on scooter and commuter segments in which the manufacturer is posting good growth every month. Honda is the only manufacturer who hasn’t had a major launch in the mid-size segment for some time now. Honda hasn’t given an update for CBR 250 R since its launch.
The company introduced 2018 version of CBR 250 R recently with LED headlamp and new graphics but it won’t help the company to post growth as competition is far better now as the engine and features are outdated. KTM Duke and RC series is doing really well and the recently launched TVS Apache RR 310 is the segment leader right now.
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BMW will soon introduce G310 R and G 310 GS in India. Hero is also currently working on new performance products while Mahindra will introduce Java next year in India. Even though globally Honda introduced new generation of CBR 250 R, the company is not bringing this model to India.
The new CBR 250 R is already available in most of the Asian countries and it will be easy for the Japanese manufacturer to bring this model here. Earlier Honda was planning to launch Rebel bike in India but the company hasn’t confirmed or denied whether it will be launched or not. Some reports claims that Honda is developing a new cruiser bike for Indian market to taken on Royal Enfield which the current market leader.